Different
by wizwitch42
Summary: There's something about Donnie that separates him from his brothers...though it's not just his intelligence...
1. Letters

**A/N: This is a "30-Day" challenge I've been working on since...November, but I decided this month was a good one to post it in.**

**In this lil fic, it's kind of a slight AU, though it's based on a headcanon I have about Donnie. I'll be updating every day, and the _last day_ is when what's going on will be revealed (granted, if you guess, then I'll tell you if you're right or not).**

**Enjoy!**

Splinter smiled to himself as he watched his sons play. Each of them were very unique, and it showed in the activities they chose to entertain themselves with.

Michelangelo, ever the energetic one, was practically bouncing in place while he colored a bit of a rainbow explosion on a piece of cardboard with crayon stubs Splinter had found for him. Nearby, Raphael was "practicing" with a practice weapon while Leonardo played with a toy spaceship.

Where was Donatello, though?

The second-youngest of the family both was the one Splinter could trust on his own for moments at a time and the one he often worried about the most. While the others seemed to be developing like human children, Donatello seemed to be a bit behind. While the others were running around yelling in full sentences at each other, Don just silently sat to the side, occasionally letting out sounds when anyone got too close or crawling out of the way.

The old rat often thought that the young kame wasn't as mutated as his brothers, though he tried to raise him as if he was. Whenever Splinter looked into those brown eyes, he saw an awareness he rarely had ever seen in a _human_.

Such different children...

The ninja master rose from his chair and walked over to the area designated as the boys' bedroom. Often, whenever his brothers were in the living room and Splinter didn't make him come out as well, the young turtle would prefer to be off on his own and take solace in his brothers being out of the room.

"Donatello?" He creaked the door open and peered in. "Donatello, are you in here?" The master moved to enter the room, but then a smiling Donnie came out of the blanket fort he had been in. "Hello, my son, just checking up on you."

"...R..."

What? Had Donnie just spoken?

"...A...T..."

"Donatello?"

Perhaps he had been underestimating this child...

**A/N: This isn't one of the better ones...I'm fully aware of that...Don't worry, though! Most of them are better! Anyway review!**


	2. Simple

**A/N: This one's a cute one. P.S.: the puzzle is just pieces Splinter's found and the boys sometimes try to put together.**

**Disclaimer: Gah! Forgot this yesterday! Anyway, I may own five figures, a book, several games and puzzles, LEGOs, 7 shirts, and a hat, I don't own the Turtles themselves**

"I think it goes here."

"No, look at the shape. It can't fit."

"Well I'll make it!"

Donnie tried to resist the urge to groan at his brothers as he attempted to find a piece combination with their puzzle. Why was Raph so difficult?

"Donnie?" The genius of the group looked up at his oldest brother in response, and noticed he was holding out a puzzle piece. The younger accepted and examined it before finally placing it down, pushing it into place with a firm _click._ "See?"

"Hmm...So our little brother knew where a piece went. Big whoop." As Raph said this, he tried to shove another piece where it couldn't go, and Donnie gently moved his big brother's hand so it was over a spot it could fit.

"Easy."

Mikey looked up at his brother in confusion for a moment before leaning over him to grab a piece, causing the older turtle to tense up and let out a small groan. At this noise, Mikey tried to turn towards his brother, but ended up falling so he was laying on the lanky turtle's lap.

"Off!" Donnie yelled as he pushed the smaller turtle off of his lap then grabbed his stuffed dog, which he held to his chest. "No-no..."

"Sorry..."

"Not again!"

While the two youngest bickered, Leo picked up a puzzle piece that he quickly realized didn't really fit with any of the others.

A small voice in the back of his head noticed how it was purple in color, but he simply ignored the voice and put the piece to the side.

**A/N: *shrugs* I really don't have that much to say...**


	3. Nosebleed

**A/N: Hehe...I hate people. I got to school quarter to eight, and I didn't get to leave until seven. _I was there for almost twelve hours!_ And I get to do it again tomorrow and _all_ of next week! *headdesk***

**Anyway, I'm gonna try to talk one of my friends into posting for me next week while I'm doing that stuff (*mutters about actors and how they should be most prepared*)...But for now, here's this.**

**I'm amazed at the response this has gotten so far! I mean, I literally hate every other chapter up until chapter twenty-five because of Andrea! So the fact people are enjoying this, I am astonished and I love y'all!**

**to Heather: ...I'm not going to answer that where everyone can read. If you want, you can contact me some other way (I have a list of links in my profile), and then I'll answer.**

"Away!"

Leo turned away from the TV at the rare sound of Don's voice to see him with a few metal things while scooting away from Mikey.

Oh boy, there was no way this could end well.

"Mikey, leave him alone!"

"He won't play!"

Leo let out a sigh at the youngest. How did their father deal with this?

"Didn't Father talk with you about this the other day?" As expected, Mikey shook his head, then continued pestering the turtle in purple.

What happened next, neither of them expected.

"DONATELLO!"

Leo immediately leaped off the couch and quickly worked at trying to stem the blood flow from Mikey's nose courtesy of a piece of metal thrown by Don.

"What?"

Leo took a deep breath and counted to five before letting it out, just as Father had taught him to do if he became frustrated with one of his brothers-which happened more than he would like to admit.

"Why did you throw that at Mikey?"

"Bothering."

Leo let out another breath at how_ simply_ Don said that. It was as if he truly didn't understand what was so wrong about what he had done.

Their father once told Leo that Don most likely had mutated differently than the others, which caused him to have problems thinking like they did.

Despite that, Leo often hoped that Donnie would someday be "normal".

**A/N: Did I mention I hate this chapter? I'm insanely proud of the last one, but this one...**

**Everything will be explained at some point. With what I headcanon about Don, there just tends to be a bit of apathy involved sometimes, so...**

**Two little notes: the puzzle piece had a double symbolism, and Leo actually becomes the first to learn about what's going on. That doesn't happen until the 21st though...**

**Bye, see y'all tomorrow!**


	4. Tickle

**A/N: I still don't get why you people like this...Whatever...This chapter's a little bit better. Sort of. Not much. :P Anyway, I did get my friend to take over on here for me while I'm doing tech for the musical, so yeah.**

**to Heather: Uh...I would, but _I_ don't even know their ages in these. I initially wrote them in a random order (day 29 was the first one, actually). I just kinda put them in what _seemed_ like a good order, so...yeah. Sorry, hon! Oh, and the reason I don't like "Nosebleed" is because of what I had Don do. It fit with the story...but..**

Donatello sighed to himself as he tried to read his book over the din his brothers were making. Why were they always making noise like that? He was able to sit with quietly for more than ten minutes. There actually had been several occasions where the others didn't know he was in a room thanks to how quietly he had walked in.

Suddenly Mikey was right next to him. Don sighed and scooted enough so that his brother wasn't in his personal space, but the smaller turtle just crawled closer.

"Mikey, please, leave me alone."

The younger turtle didn't though, and instead pounced on the purple-banded turtle and pulled him down to the ground.

"Guys! Whatever you're planning, it's not funny!

Of course, the others didn't agree with the genius and got mischievous grins on their faces.

The three of them had been having fun with their game, and decided that Don should join in.

Once their most distant brother was on the ground with them, Leo started by running his fingers against the sensitive skin between Don's carapace and plastron. If he noticed how his little brother tensed up, he gave no sign and smiled at Raph.

Raph smiled right back at his only older brother and started running his fingers up and down the soles of Don's feet, sometimes bringing a hand up to the back of his knee. The younger turtle kept attempting to kick the hothead, but his legs were pinned down by Leo, so it wasn't working very well.

Suddenly fingers were running around his neck. Darn it, now Mikey had joined in. Couldn't they leave him alone?

None of them are even aware of Don's yelling until Splinter comes in.

"What is going on here?" the ninja master asked, causing all the tickling to cease. The moment it did, Donatello wiggled out of his brothers' grips and ran to his room, slamming the door shut.

The other three were tempted to go after him, but the look on their father's face told them that they should answer his question first.

"W-We were playing..." Leo answered after several moments. "We decided to have Don join us..."

Splinter sighed to himself at his oldest son's answer. The three of them obviously had no malicious intent, they were just wanting their brother to join in their fun. How were they supposed to know the affect it would have on him?

"W-what happened to Donnie?" Mikey asked with his eyes brimming with tears.

"I am not quite sure, my sons. You all are very unique, but sometimes it seems that Donatello shows it in more ways."

**A/N: I have some sort of sadistic pleasure with this chapter...is that bad? Hehe...this is my favorite up until the fourteenth...and that one's more of cuteness!**


	5. Lonely

**A/N: Welp. This one's slightly depressing. That's where I'm leaving it.**

**Disclaimer: *looks at the stack of papers* There may be something in there claiming I own it, but I doubt it.**

Donnie watched with a curious gaze as he watched his brothers laugh and run around. They certainly looked as if they were having fun...

Maybe he could join?

No, they seemed to be having plenty of fun without him; he didn't want to ruin it.

Just like always...

Most of the time, he didn't mind being left out of games with his brothers. If anything, it gave him a chance to read or play by himself.

On occasion-like now-he would sit off to the side and watch them play, wishing he could join in.

He just couldn't figure out how to ask.

Sure, sometimes the others would join in without asking, but he felt so weird doing something like that.

"You okay, Donnie?"

The genius pulled himself out of his thoughts at the sound of his oldest brother's voice and was mildly surprised to find Leo standing in front of him while Raph and Mikey looked at him from their spots on the floor.

"I'm fine."

It was amazing how easily the lie slipped off his tongue. He just didn't want to guilt them, though.

"Well...do you want to play with us?"

Donnie always liked it when the loneliness faded.

When he felt like he_ belonged._

**A/N: Least it ended happy! Mostly. Fun fact: at like 11 o'clock last night, I thought of staying up a bit longer so I could post it today at midnight-ish. *looks at time* It's nearly 12 hours later.**


	6. Direction

**A/N: Hm...go back to sleep or work on the project due tomorrow? Love days I feel like crap. Anyway, here's this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't have to worry about science class.**

Donnie looked around the sewer tunnels surrounding him and sighed. Still had no clue where he was.

Great. He was never gonna find his way home at this rate. He couldn't even tell if he was getting closer or farther away.

He certainly hoped it was the former, but knowing his luck, it wasn't. He probably was going in circles.

"What do you think, Barksly?" the child asked the stuffed dog in his arms.

_"We'll find the way eventually."_

"Right. We just need to keep looking."

The mutant turtle continued walking through the system of tunnels under the city that never slept, hoping he would end up home soon, when he heard something.

Footsteps.

Donnie knew he couldn't be seen by humans, so he quickly ducked behind a pipe and hoped that the person wouldn't see him.

"Donatello?"

"Daddy?"

"Donatello, where are you?"

The young child slowly came out of his hiding spot to see if his father was in the same tunnel as him, and once he saw the aged rat, he ran over into Splinter's arms.

"You need to stop doing this, my son. Some day, I may not be the first to find you."

"Sorry..."

The simply smiled at his son and lead him home.

**A/N: ...I swear there was something I wanted to comment on...Whatever. Love y'all!**


	7. Wind

**A/N: The difference between how Donnie talked to Barksly (the stuffed dog) and how he talked once he knew Splinter was there...Anyway, uh, here's this. I wrote it while reading a certain book...see if you can guess it!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned turtles...Hehe...**

_Chink. Chink. Chink._

_Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir..._

"Mikey, put whatever that is away before I break it," Raph growled as he fed Spike a piece of lettuce he found in the fridge.

"That wasn't me." Mikey glanced up from his coloring at his brother before adding, "I'm just coloring down here. Maybe it's Leo's show."

_Chink, chink, chink._

_Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir..._

This time when Raph heard the noise, he realized it was behind him. Hmm...and the faint giggling sounded like Donnie...

"Anyone seen Donnie?" The other two boys in the room looked around a moment before shaking their heads.

"I think he may be in his lab..." Mikey answered after a moment. "He found something out in the sewer earlier and wanted to work with it."

_Chink chink chink._

_Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir..._

Yep, definitely was coming from the area of the lab.

"I'm gonna go check on him." Before anyone could protest, Raph had Spike on his shoulder and was up on his way to the lab.

"Donnie? You alright in here, bud?" Instead of a real answer, he got more of the giggling in response.

The older mutant peaked in to see what was going on, and he was quite surprised to see his little brother sitting on the floor with Barksly in his lap while watching something. After a bit the sound died out, and Donnie reached out to grab whatever he had been watching: a toy mouse.

Donatello turned it in his hands a bit before twisting something on the side of it-

_Chinkchinkchink_

-and putting it back on the ground.

_Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir_...

So his genius brother found a wind-up toy. It was actually kind of cute to see Don play with something rather than taking it apart or reading a book. Donnie was acting like a _kid._

Perhaps he could leave him for a bit...

**A/N: They're all aware there's something up with Donnie...I'm currently working on the chapter where Don figures out what's going on (day 19-ish). Of course, you guys don't get to learn with him...*evil laugh***

**Anyway, love y'all!**


	8. Knowledge

**A/N: Mic tests become hilarious when the actors have no clue what to say. And "Tomorrow" is stuck in my head. Oops, there's "Hard Knock Life". Anyway, I wrote this at one in the morning, so it did go a little strange and out of my style...oh well! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: *singing* "The sun'll come out, tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that I don't own, the turtles..." *holds last syllable until it matches the beat of the song***

Donnie knew he always had been different from his brothers.

While they were perfectly content to roll around and play wrestle with each other, he would rather be alone in his room with a book or some sort of machine. During training, they all were usually able to pick up on the moves fairly easily while he often struggled to figure out where each of his limbs were supposed to be at the same time.

Oh, and his reactions to when Splinter helped readjust him. He mostly tried to keep it hidden, but he knew he grimaced every time he felt his father's fur against his skin.

None of his brothers had any reaction to touch.

Oh sure, they would laugh when someone tickled them or yelp if someone hurt them, but Donnie just flinched away whenever someone else's skin was against his own.

He once read that humanoids needed eight positive touches a day to be emotionally healthy.

Despite not being able to handle the touches given to him, Don still loved hugs.

That was one of those things he probably would never fully understand. While he constantly flinched away from any sort of physical contact (going as far as practically falling off the bed when the four of them shared one), he would often be the first to give a hug if he thought it was needed-whether for the sake of whomever he gave the hug to or his own.

If Leo was feeling the weight of being oldest, Don was there with a hug while reminding him that he didn't have to carry that weight alone.

If Raph was mad at the world he swore was out to get him, Donnie-Boy was there to remind him things weren't as bad as they could be and possibly get a hug in.

If Mikey was hiding from his oldest brothers because they were fighting (again), Donnie would find one of his hiding spots and allow the younger turtle to curl up in his arms while they talked about anything to ignore the fighting.

And if Splinter was having one of those days where he kept thinking of his old family, Donatello was there with a hug to remind him that he still had a family that loved him.

He may not have understood most of the things his family did, but he understood enough to help them.

**A/N: Like I said: strange. Oh well, it's cute.**


	9. Stories

**A/N: Here's an interesting one...Oh, and Don's speech is blending more now because he's saying more at once. Before he only would say a word or two, now he's focusing on whole sentences at once and his brain's faster than his mouth.**

**Disclaimer: *singing* "It'd be the hard knock life, for them, if I owned the tur-tles!" *stops singing* ...Any guesses what our musical is?**

"Sp'rrow."

Master Splinter opened his eyes at the sound of Donatello's voice and was somewhat surprised to see the child sitting in front of him while a huge smile.

"What do you mean, my son?"

"Can you t'll m' sp'rrow story?" **("Can you tell me [the] sparrow story?")**

Splinter honestly didn't know when his second youngest started speaking full sentences. All he knew was that he just randomly started one day, though he was more prone to blending or even skipping words than his brothers.

"Donatello, I'm sure you know that story better than I do."

"No, 'get s'me'f eh det'ls." **("No, [I] forget some of the details.")**

"Alright, come here then..."

§¤§

"'It w's now eh beg'ning'f s'mm'r, 'nd each day eh s'n blazed m'r fiercely'," **("'It was now the beginning of summer, and each day the sun blazed more fiercely'.")** Don recited to his younger brother as he laid on the floor, staring at the ceiling, while Mikey sat nearby and placed pieces of paper on his brother's face and plastron.

"Why did the sun do that?"

"D' no. I think it'z j'st wh't eh s'n d's." **("Don't know. I think it's just what the sun does.")**

"That's not very nice."

"Few th'ngs'r'. Anyw'y: 'One m'rn'n', eh he't w's'o b'd, eh st'n'-c'tt'r c'd sc'rcely bre'the,'-" **(Few Things are. Anyway: 'One morning, the heat was so bad, the stone-cutter could scarcely breathe.")**

"How does that work?"

"Hm...n't quite sure..."

"What are you boys up to?" At the sound of his father's voice, the older turtle sat up (causing all the papers to fall to the ground) and Mikey sat up a bit more.

"Donnie's telling stories!"

"Is he, now?"

"Yeah, he's doing what you told him to: he's talking and developing his speech!"

The rat let out a small chuckle at his youngest's energy then asked, "What story are you sharing, Donatello?"

"'Eh St'ne-C'tt'r', It w's in th't book oo g've us..." **("'The Stone-Cutter', it was in that book you gave us...")**

Splinter couldn't help but be a bit surprised at this. How did his intelligent son learn a story he had first read a few days ago quicker than a story he had heard every night for the past several years?

**A/N: The "sparrow story" is "The Tongue-Cut Sparrow", which is my favorite in a book of Japanese fairy tales I have, and "The Stone-Cutter" is in one of my many English fairy tale books...For that one I just picked one I knew before I downloaded them because it would be reasonable for it to be in a random fairy tale book...**

**Anyway, yay, Don's talking in full sentences! ...Mostly.**


	10. Silver

**A/N: Ugh...I was at school for thirteen hours today and I can't skip tomorrow...Anyway, here's this.**

**Disclaimer: *singing* "So maybe this one's the last of its kind, but I don't own the turtles..."**

"Can you hand me the silver, Mikey?" a young Donnie asked his brother as the two of them colored. At his brother's request, Mikey looked at their pile of crayon stubs, but he wasn't exactly sure what his brother was asking for. Silver? Which one was that?

"Never mind, I'll get it," the older decided when he saw his younger brother struggling. Mikey carefully watched which crayon his brother grabbed for future reference, and much to his surprise, the genius grabbed a gray.

Hm...that was interesting...

"Donnie, that's gray."

"I don't like calling it that. Gray is such a dull color, but silver actually seems like a color."

Mikey thought about what his brother said while looking at the gray floor and compared it to the color appearing on Don's paper.

Donnie was right; the floor seemed quite dull and dreary compared to the crayon wax. He never would have noticed that on his own.

"Are there any other colors like that?"

"That when you call it something else, it has a different appearance. Like how the silver has more shine than the gray."

Donnie paused his coloring to think on what his brother had just asked. Finally, he said, "None of us are the same type of green, and our masks aren't really pure hues."

"Hmm...can you explain the mask one?"

"Leo's mask is a bit lighter than regular blue, probably more of a cyan color. Meanwhile Raph's is quite the opposite in that his mask is darker than normal red...I think the exact shade is cardinal...As for yours, you actually have some yellow tints. Almost like an orange peel color."

"And yours?"

Donnie grabbed one of his mask tails and brought it into his line of sight. "Purpureus."

"Oh...What?"

"A shade or two lighter than normal purple."

"Cool."

The two of them then continued coloring while Mikey continually asked what some of the colors were.

And for once, Donnie didn't feel so distant from one of his brothers.

**A/N: I'll go through and edit Don's speech pattern tomorrow along with a boo boo in "Tickle". Mansion to orphanage back to the mansion, then back to the orphanage to restart the play...**

**I hate the director.**

**Love y'all, though.**


	11. Cry

**A/N: Sleep...need sleep...I didn't have my daily dose of caffeine today...I literally fell asleep in all my classes today.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not gonna do the parody this time. I'm just gonna say that I don't own them...but first, let me take a selfie! (worst song ever)**

Mikey smiled to himself as he climbed up the tree in the dojo. He was definitely gonna win this bet with Raph.

Unless he fell.

Then he probably would lose.

"Mikey!"

Fortunately, Raph was able to catch his little brother before he hit the ground, but they didn't make it unscathed.

"Augh! My arm!"

"Are you okay, Raphie?"

Raph glared at his younger brother for the question, but he saw the tears forming in his blue eyes, so he took a deep breath to resist the urge to scream.

"Okay, Mikey, can you go and get Master Splinter or Donnie?" _'Preferable Donnie...'_

"O-Okay..." The younger turtle stood up and quickly ran out of the dojo to find one of the family members Raph asked for. He couldn't help but worry about the older turtle as he ran, though-Raph _never_ asked for help.

"What's wrong, Mikey?" Donnie asked when he saw the younger turtle come into the living room, slightly panicked.

"Raph's hurt! You need to help him!" Donnie let out a small sigh at the explanation and got up to follow his only little brother into the dojo, where Raph was still sitting on the floor, clutching his arm to his chest.

"Oh, uh, hi, Don! How are-"

"What happened and what hurts?"

"It's my arm. Probably a-OW!"

"It's not broken, but it most likely is slightly sprained," the younger turtle explained simply as he manipulated the arm then moved to grab the first aid kit. "Mikey, what's hurting for you?"

"Nothing..."

"You're crying." The youngest brought a hand up to his face and was surprised to find it wet.

"I didn't get hurt...I just got upset I guess..."

Donnie let out a small hum of disbelief but let the matter drop. He never understood the others.

**A/N: *shrugs* I think I wrote this after I hit the "Am I done yet?" point...**


	12. Serious

**A/N: Well, the play went off without a hitch...other than a column falling/breaking and some drinks being spilled...after the column thing, I kept playing with the jello champagne. Anyway, this chapter was a bit of fun.**

**Disclaimer: Hm...how can I do a fun one? Whatever, I don't own it.**

Donnie let out a small groan as he tried to twist off the lid of his screw jar. How did it get stuck so tightly?

"Need help there?"

Donnie looked up at Raph and let out a small sigh before nodding and handing the jar to his brother.

"Weak grip...This is a piece of cake!" Raph announced as he started twisting the jar. Donnie rolled his eyes at the subtle jab-it had become a joke at how weak his grip could get-but his mind stuck to the second part of Raph's comment. How was the jar of screws like a piece of cake?

"Uh...thanks?" Donnie responded, somewhat unsure of what to make his of brother.

"No prob," Raph answered as he tugged at the lid, though it remained stubbornly in place. "Geez, Donnie, ya glue this down or something?"

Uh, what?

"Here, let me see it," Leo commanded when Raph didn't make any progress after several moments, then grabbed the jar before the red masked turtle could refuse. "I know a little trick..." he added before quickly scurrying out of the room.

Donnie sighed to himself and looked at Raph. Yep, hard glare towards where Leo had left.

Least some things made sense.

"Here you go, Don." The genius of the family broke out of his thoughts at Leo's voice to accept the now open jar. "It's amazing what you can do with a butter knife."

"Thank you..."

"No prob."

...these were the wrong screws.

**A/N: Okay, I just _had_ to add that last line. Anyway, if you guys don't get Leo's comment, if you can't open a jar, just hit the side of it with a butter knife to break the seal. It really does work, and that's how I put jelly on my bagels.**

**Anyway, love y'all!**


	13. Flame

**A/N: Well, nothing went too bad. I have every single song stuck in my head and couldn't stand being backstage it got so hot...my bra's stuck again.**

**Stephanie: Don't you have homework?**

**...This is my muse. Ignor-**

**Stephanie: What do you have?**

**Dead mouse! *shoves it in her face* I wish it was turtles, though!**

Donnie looked everywhere but at his sensei as the meditation candles were lit. He didn't want to look at the flicker of the flame and he certainly didn't want to smell whatever scent the mixture of candles would create. The joys of meditation...

According to Splinter, the scented candles helped them to center themselves by enhancing their senses, but Don mostly saw it as a distraction. How could anyone focus with the chemical smell that was produced?

Donatello decided not to focus on that and instead just attempted to fold his legs into lotus position. He knew he could've sat down just with his legs crossed, but he knew that would cause at least one of his legs to go numb and become uncomfortable...not that lotus was much better...

"Need help, Donnie-Boy?" Instead of verbally answering his oldest brother, the genius let out an exasperated sigh and slowly nodded his head. "Alright, hang on..."

Donnie immediately tensed as he felt his brother put a hand on the back of his shell and used his other hand to arrange Don's legs. _'Please stop touching me!'_

Finally, the younger turtle was situated, and his older brother sat down next to him in case he fell or something.

Donnie then closed his eyes and attempted to ignore the candles...

**A/N: I know this one's weird.**


	14. Materialistic

**A/N: You know Barksly? This was the first chapter I wrote with him in it.**

**...Yeah.**

**I don't own 'em.**

Donnie rubbed his upper arms nervously before starting to eat. He felt so uncomfortable without having anything in his arms...

Typically he had a small stuffed dog, but it had been missing when he had awoken that morning. Leo promised he would help look for it after breakfast, but it didn't do a thing for his nerves.

"Mornin', guys!" Raph greeted as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a plate.

He seemed awfully cheerful...

"Mornin', Raph," Leo greeted without even looking at his immediate younger brother. "Hey, Barksly went missing, do you know where he is?"

"That ratty old stuffed dog? I thought the dork always had it with him."

Hmm...Didn't quite answer the question...

"Yes, well, he went missing this morning, and Don's more than a little distraught."

"Well it's high time he learned how to get around without it. We're turning ten next month, and_ Mikey_ gave up _his _stuffed bear_ years_ ago!"

"We all change at different rates. Donnie'll give up Barksly even _he's_ ready, not when _you_ are."

"Hiding him's not going to help me..." Don explained in a quiet voice, startling his brother and father. The smaller mutant hadn't spoken a word all morning other than to say that he couldn't find Barksly.

"I didn't hide it!"

"Never said you did."

Raph gaped in shock as the purple-banded turtle grinned to himself. Foiled again by the genius.

"Raphael, why would you do such a thing to your brother?" Raph chose to not answer and instead stuffed his mouth. "Raphael..."

"He needs to give it up! It's starting to get ridiculous with how attached he is to that thing!" There was a tense silence after Raph's explosion, which was broken by a meek voice.

"I'm sorry I'm so ridiculous, Raphie..." the younger turtle whispered before quickly leaving the room with Leo following him.

"Raphael, what you did was not only disrespectful, but you have greatly hurt your brother. I want you to return the dog to Donatello, then meet me in the dojo." Before Raph could even open his mouth to say anything, the ninja master had rose and left.

The young turtle gave a resigned sigh.

~§~

Donnie sat in his room curled up as much as he could without crawling into his shell. He ignored Leo's protests to him staying in his room, and they eventually faded, signaling that Leo had given up and left.

It wasn't that Donnie didn't love his brothers, he just felt more than a little out of place around them and needed a buffer. It just made him feel safer.

Raph was right, this was ridiculous. He knew his brothers would never hurt him (intentionally), what was he so scared of?

Despite telling himself how stupid this was, he still needed the barrier.

He was broken out of his thoughts by a loud knock.

"Leo, I told you to leave me alone!"

"It's me. Can you let me in?"

Donnie was tempted to say no, but something about the way he asked made the word die in his lips. Raph's voice wasn't as gruff as it normally was...

Curious, Donnie opened his door to see the hothead standing there with Barksly held out.

"Here's yo- _Barksly," _Raph offered as he handed the stuffed animal to his little brother, being sure to call it by its name to make his brother happy. "I'm sorry I took i- _him._"

Donnie stared at his brother with large eyes and gingerly reaching out for the toy before grabbing it and holding to his chest. Raph couldn't help but smile at the sight of Don's large grin. Sure, the dog was obviously...well-loved with the missing eye and numerous patches, but it was Donnie's, evident by the sight of an old, purple mask tied around its neck in a form of a collar.

"Th-thank you, Raphie..."

"Anytime, squirt. I shouldn't have given you such a hard time about it. We cool?"

"Twenty-six point five."

"Never change, bud..." Raph answered with a small laugh as he put an arm around the smaller turtle's shoulders. He may not have understood his brother, but he could at least accept him as he was.

**A/N: The number Don said was supposed to be their body temperature...it was in an episode of "Next Mutation" (Don was talking about how his "Eye in the Sky" worked, part of which was body temp and said their body temperature to compare it to a human's). Yes, I watch that show, don't sue me...I need a nap. I hate anxiety.**

**Love y'all.**


	15. Tap

**A/N: So, imagine you're in elementary school and you know you need braces. You wait, you wait, finally, freshman year, you're gonna get them! ...Then the dentist mentions something to your mom that you _already_ knew was gonna be a problem, so she decides to wait and get another opinion.**

**My jaw's *censored* up, I get it! But if you move my lower jaw, my mouth won't *censored* close properly!**

**Anyway, here's this chapter...I'm Donnie, my sister's Raph, this seriously happens a lot.**

**Disclaimer: I would have my braces on and off by now if I owned them...**

_-Taptaptaptaptap-_

Raph scrunched his face up in irritation at the slight but noticeable sound. "Mikey, knock it off!"

"It's not me!"

The older turtle looked at the youngest to be sure-

_-taptaptaptaptaptap-_

-but Mikey had been telling the truth. He wasn't the cause of the tapping.

Then where…

_-taptaptaptaptaptap-_

Raphael turned towards Donnie on the other end of the couch, and he was tapping his fingers on the book he was reading.

"What are you doing, Don?"

"Uh, reading?" The purple-banded turtle gave his brother an odd look, then realized that he was tapping his fingers._ "_Oh_, _that. I didn't realize I was doing that. Sorry." Donnie then stopped his tapping and things were quiet-

-_clickclickclickclickclickclick-_

Until Don started clicking his tongue.

This was going to be a long day.

**A/N: Okay, typically there's a lot more yelling with me and my sister, but you get the gist.**

**Love y'all.**


	16. Catch

**A/N: You guys have _no clue_ how much your support means to me-I'm prone to meltdowns and panic attacks during school and then I come home to deal with my dad who _now _is trying to understand me...and I'm fifteen.**

**So to log on and find these reviews...Several times I sit there in shock for a moment wondering how you seem to only have nice things to say to me. Thank you so much!**

**Anyway, this chapter...uh...I wrote it during gym class.**

"Hey, Donnie-Boy, think fast!" At the sound of his name, the genius looked up from his book, only to be greeted by Raph throwing a small ball at his plastron. **[1] **"Donnie!"

"What? You said 'think fast', so that's what I did. Not my fault you threw the ball at me when I wasn't ready." Donatello completely ignored his older brother's amazed look and went back to his book as if nothing had happened.

"When someone says 'think fast', they normally want you catch whatever they're throwing at you." He walked over to his immediate younger brother and reached across his plastron to grab the ball (much to Donnie's annoyance). "Haven't you heard us say that before with each other?"

"In case you haven't noticed…I tend to not be very 'in tuned' with you guys, so no." With a loud groan, he shoved his brother off of him and onto the floor "Besides, that's kind of stupid."

Raph rolled his eyes and got up before adding, "Whatever. Mikey knew what it meant the first time I did it to him, and so did Leo." Right as he turned towards Don, the lankier turtle had his eyes screwed shut and was taking deep breathes. Uh oh… "Donnie? Are you alright?"

"Fine…I'm going to go to my room…I have an experiment I need to work on…" Before Raph could say anything else, his little brother was gone.

**[1] You really don't wanna know how tempted I was to make Donnie say "I think 'OW!'" (Kudos if you get the joke)**

**A/N: Seriously, I hope someone got the joke. Anyway, yay! Raph and Donnie bonding! Hm...There's like one chapter with hints of Don/Mikey bonding...huh...**

**Anyway, love y'all!**


	17. Routine

**A/N: So...uh...I really have nothing to say...There's a subtle 80s reference in here.**

**To 14rosie14: Yep! ...I never noticed that. XD**

**Disclaimer: No, but my sister's doing a report on turtles!**

Donnie liked it when things were predictable.

Sure, sometimes he would do some sort of experiment that he didn't know the result of, but he often was able to make educated guesses and he_ planned_ on being surprised most of the time.

He tried to find patterns with his family, but they would change as soon as Don figured them out.

That was part of why he tended to stay in his lab most of the time, or would reread a book while out in the living room. Some sort of stability...

"Don-Don!"

Aaaaaaaand here came his most unpredictable of his brothers: Mikey.

"What, Mikey? I'm busy here." After his snap, the older turtle looked at his brother and tried to remember what emotion went with that expression. After recognizing it as upset, he realized how badly he snapped. "Sorry, uh, let me try again: How can I help you?" That better not have come out too sarcastic...

"I-I was wondering if...uh...if you wanted to come join us for movie night..."

Right, it was Friday night. Every week, some family channel would play some sort of cheesy feel-good movie, and the mutant family had made it a bit of a custom to watch it every week.

How could he forget that?

"Oh, right. I'll be out in a minute.

"Okie dokes!" the smaller exclaimed, then ran towards the living room to get the others.

The genius of the family rolled his eyes at Mikey's enthusiasm, then looked around his desk for his current novel.

Once he found it (_Three Musketeers_), he quickly rushed out of the lab to claim his seat.

There were some exceptions to his little rules, but one he never enjoyed letting break was he got the farthest right seat on the couch. He was able to put his book on the armrest, and he often felt more secure tucked in the corner.

He sometimes feared the day they would be allowed on the surface because there was no way things wouldn't change.

**A/N: For some turtle species, the females are larger than males...And since Raphie's a bit...bulkier than his bros...Why haven't I found anything with this? I've found three for Don, several for Mikey, and even one for Leo...**

**And this thing still needs a cover. Anyone able to draw?**


	18. Laugh

**A/N: Gah! Zane literally [spoilers], so now they're two parts of a whole, Jay and Cole are such children thanks to [spoilers], Lloyd thinks [spoilers], and I thought [spoilers]! This show is not for children...**

**Anyway, rant on Ninjago aside, let's work on another show claimed to be for children but really isn't: Turtles!**

**This chapter is weird.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, they would've crossed over with Ninjago a while ago.**

"DARN IT!" Raph yelled when his on-screen avatar got slaughtered in the video game he was playing with his brothers. This was the third time in a row he had been killed!

"Raph, calm down; it's just a game."

Raph rolled his eyes at his older brother's calmness. Of course he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it; he hadn't died once yet.

"Be glad you're not Donnie!" Mikey teased, thankfully earning no reaction from said turtle. Don may have been a genius, but he wasn't always the greatest at video games (though perhaps the way he kept blinking had something to do with it...).

"True..." Raph agreed as Leo finally died in the game. "Yes!"

Suddenly Don burst out into laughter, much to his brothers' confusion.

"Uh, Don? You alright there?" Leo asked, both scared for and of his brother, after this went on for several moments with no sign of letting up. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know..."

"You don't know why you're laughing..."

"Nope!"

Donnie was certainly a strange one.

**A/N: EVERYTHING I LOVE DIES!**

**Stephanie: Calm. Down.**

**Never!**


	19. Discovery

**A/N: *sing "Weekend Whip" by The Fold***

**Stephanie: Eh hem...**

***stops singing* Oh! Hi there! Uh...I don't own!**

"Donnie! C'mon, Raph didn't mean it!" Leo yelled from outside the door that Don had shut and locked before tucking himself in a back corner of the room with Barksly. He didn't want to see his brothers right now; he was perfectly content in his little cave.

"Yeah, Donnie! I didn't mean to make you upset! I was just playing around!"

Donnie curled up into himself even more at his immediate older brother's voice. He knew Raph had been playing around, but some of the things he said just weren't the best thing for the genius to hear at the time.

_'I'm different from them and we all know it...'_

The genius had found an information packet the other day, and everything in it was just so_ him_ that there was no way it wasn't.

_'Least it has a name now...'_

That was the only upside now: he may have been weird, but now he knew why.

"Donnie?"

Oh...why did Mikey have to be so cute and innocent?

"Alright..."

Don let out a breath and slowly rose up to leave his room, knowing he couldn't hide forever.

They probably would discover what was going on some day, but today certainly wasn't it.

**A/N: This chapter almost had a "Frozen" reference. I was tempted to have Mikey ask Don if he wanted to build a snowman...**

**I'm still screaming over Ninjago.**


	20. Restless

**A/N: What? Did no one like the last chapter? It's fine, I didn't either.**

**So I haven't even been up for three hours, and I already am starting to make myself sick from to many jelly beans (I have the worst stomach out of my entire family, and I never vomit at a reasonable time-more like three or four in the morning).**

**to guest123: hello. Glad to hear that.**

**Disclaimer: I would have Donnie write my science paper if I owned them. And possibly my book report.**

**I would like to thank Belle the Dog for making the cover image for this story.**

Insomnia, why oh why did such a thing have to exist? All it did was make training Hell, along with several other things.

_1:42_

Precisely four hours and twelve minutes until he usually got up, four hours and forty-two minutes until he would be pulled out for breakfast, and _five_ hours and twelve minutes until training.

He rolled over to move into a more comfortable position, but it felt like all his weight was on his shoulder, causing a mentality of it shifting.

Roll over to his plastron being to the mattress and his head turning to the side. This was a bit more comfortable…

_1:43_

Four hours and eleven minutes; four hours and forty-one minutes, five hours and eleven minutes.

Suddenly he found himself sitting up, attempting to take in air. Okay, that position severely hindered his breathing. File that away for future reference (again…how many times would he bend his neck like that before the lesson stuck?).

…His mouth was dry. He needed something to drink. Some chamomile tea ought to help…

Yep, sounded like a plan. Get up, get some tea, and go back to the bed. He didn't even need to turn on a light; he knew exactly where the tea was, and Splinter usually kept a candle lit in the kitchen in case any of the boys needed to get up for any reason in the night. It would be enough light to find the correct package with.

He pulled his numb legs off of his bed pushed them onto the floor, testing how they would hold. They seemed stable, but the true test was—

_Thunk_

…Well, the feeling was starting to return. He used his bed to raise himself up and started walking towards the kitchen.

He had reached for the cabinet with the tea stuff when out of the corner of his eye, he saw his lab. Once he saw it, his brain went into overdrive. Ideas he hadn't even thought up before he went to bed were rushing into his head, along with various ways to make them a reality.

…Maybe this is why he couldn't sleep.

He started unconsciously walking towards his haven, but suddenly a hand reached on his shoulder to stop him.

"What are you doing up?"

Of course. Leo had some sort of sixth sense when it came to his younger brothers.

"I couldn't sleep."

"I don't think going to your lab's gonna help you sleep."

Don rolled his eyes and allowed his brother to drag him back to the kitchen.

"I didn't mean to go there…I guess I started running on autopilot…"

Leo shook his head in amusement at his genus of a brother and pulled out a tea kettle, which he filled with water and put on the stove. "You think too hard. That's why you can't sleep."

Don chose not to say anything and instead just stared at the floor.

"Is everything alright? You've been more distant than normal lately."

"I'm fine. Just going through something, I guess."

Leo hummed slightly in response, and the two stood in silence as Leo pulled out two tea cups, which he poured the now heated water into. Once grabbing a pair of tea bags, he put one in each of the cups and handed one to Don. "Let it seep as you go back to your room—it tends to work as a massive muscle relaxer."

"Thanks, Leo…"

"No prob, I'm always here if you need me."

Donnie flinched slightly at that statement. He knew it was true—they may have their problems, but the four of them were always there for each other, they were all they had.

Despite that knowledge, he just couldn't tell any of them what was truly troubling him.

_1:59_

Four hours and one minute; four hours and thirty-one minutes; five hours and one minute…

_2:00_

…and never tell.

**A/N: Okay, so next week we have LARPing Turtles ("Mazes & Mutants"), then we have Boxtree kidnapping the girls before getting mutated ("The Mutation of Baxter Stockman"), then we have the Slash/Newtralizer team-up ("Newtralized"), and finally we have Mikey _finally_ having to fight against his family ("Pizzaface").**

**I'm excited!**

**Fun fact: I stayed up fairly late to finish this chapter (it was the third one done, so I was still excited for this project), then I've had insomnia for the past two nights. Coincidence? I think not!**

**Anyway, love y'all and happy Easter!**


	21. Snowflake

**A/N: This one's a bit of fun. I love how I'm posting this the second day I get to wear shorts...Let's hope I don't jinx the weather! (yesterday I posted the insomnia chapter, then couldn't fall asleep until after midnight)**

**Stephanie: Paranoid much? *"subtly" knocks on my desk***

**Says the girl knocking on wood. Anyway, I don't own the turtles, but I do have a coloring book!**

"Suit up, guys!" April called out as she walked into the Lair with her arms filled with a large pile of coats. All of the guys looked at her in confusion before getting up to help her with her load.

"April, what is all this?" Leo gently placed a hand against April's reddened cheeks and allowed a small shiver to wrack his body. "You're freezing!"

"Just a bit of New York winter air; nothing I'm not used to." She grabbed a large coat off of Leo's pile and held it up against his shell to see if it would fit. "Alright, I guessed correctly."

"Guessed what correctly? April?" The human ignored all of the leader's questions as she moved his arms so he could put his coat on him (causing his load to be dropped in the process) and gave a self-satisfied smile once it was on. "What are you doing?"

"Didn't Master Splinter tell you?" For an answer, she just got a quartet of blank looks. "I'm taking you up to Central Park!"

The guys all exchanged confused glances laced with curiosity. Finally, Raph dropped his load and spoke up. "We can't. Splinter never even lets us out of the Lair during winter because we're cold blooded." **[1]** Donnie and Mikey gently placed down their loads as Raph continued, "There's _no_ way we're gonna be able to-"

"I asked him if I could bring you up after the first snowfall if I saw to it that you stayed warm enough. The clothes here are for you to wear in order to stay warm, and we're only going to be up there for half an hour, a full hour at most unless you guys start getting too cold." Raph and Mikey shrugged at each other and each reached down for a coat, though Don just stood there. "Donnie?"

"You're serious? "Everyone looked at Don in confusion, but the genius of the family looked down at the ground in embarrassment. "As much as I'd like to come, I can't…I'm sorry…" He turned to leave, but Leo stopped him.

"Don, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Donatello looked over his shoulder at his brothers and April, which Leo noticed.

Leo knew he should've just left his little brother be, but he knew this bothering the purple-banded turtle more than he let on. So, once Don disappeared in his lab, Leo told the others not to wait up and went into the lab.

"Donnie? Can I talk with you?" Instead of responding, Don continued working on whatever was on his workbench. The only sign he was aware his brother walked in was how he seemed to slow down slightly. "What's wrong? And…I don't just mean with the not wanting to go topside thing…Something's been bothering you for a while...What's up?"

"Uh…Promise to not tell the others? Or Splinter even?" Leo was tempted to say no, but then Don turned and added, "_Nanitozo, ani_…I don't want them to know…" **[2]**

"…Alright, Don. I won't tell as long as long as this secret won't hurt you or anyone else." Don gave a small eye roll and got up before whispering into his brother's ear. Once he was done, Leo shot his brother a smile and wrapped him in a hug. "Everything'll be fine….Now c'mon, I'm sure going topside won't hurt you."

"A…Alright." The two brothers exchanged smiles and left the lab to go to the common room, where April was trying to explain to Mikey how to put on the gloves she had modified for them. **[3]**

"You just put your fingers in these spots—how did it get on your head?"

Perhaps this would be fun.

**[1] Yes, I am aware that technically, being underground, the temperature should be fairly constant. However, it's the **_**ground**_** that stays the same, but the **_**air**_** changes. Therefore, it could get cold in the sewers during the winter months…especially in New York.**

**[2] "Please, big brother"**

**[3] In the 2k7 movie, Raph wears gloves when he's Nightwatcher, and if you look closely, you can see that he cut the gloves and resewed them so that his fingers would fit.**

**A/N: I swear the glove thing was one of my friends' ideas...Anyway, I'm gonna work on (read: start) my book report. I'm doing poems based off of _Speak_ by Laurie Halse Anderson. I may post them later...Lemme know if you'd be interested!**

**Love y'all!**


	22. Friends

**A/N: Ooh, look fail chapter with a really fail end. I'll fix the ending...Aaaaaaaand I may rewrite this entire thing after I finish the final chapter. Maybe. I still have boo-boos to fix in earlier chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I would pay someone to fold all these fortune tellers for my art project if I owned the turtles. *fold***

April paused her typing when she saw Donnie move into the lab. He didn't seem to notice her at first, instead choosing to walk over to a lab table covered in beakers.

Good, April could clear the browser history before he saw-

"What are you up to?"

April jumped up in surprise, then quickly minimized the internet window before calmly saying, "I have a report due soon in health, and my laptop wasn't working. I know I should've asked first, but I didn't want to bother you..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." He walked over towards her as he asked, "What's your report on?" Before she could answer, he skimmed her typed up notes and let out a small "oh".

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just...nothing." April pursed her lips in thought and opened up her web page again to continue her research, knowing when to not push it. "Did you pick your topic?"

"Sort of. It was on a list of things we could choose from," she explained before adding some information to her document. "One thing I've noticed is that most of these web pages I've been using were already in the computer's history log..."

"I did research on that a while ago. I just had found something with it and got curious."

April tuned around and shot the turtle a gentle smile. She knew what was really going on, but decided to understand he didn't want to admit it.

She could keep a secret.

**A/N: Still fail. Whatever. Now April knows thanks to doing a report on the-shoot, gotta go. Talk more later!**


	23. Quilt

**A/N: Okay...Two syllable-*sees you* Hey guys! I'm trying to work on three homework assignments right now...So...**

**To 14rosie14: Yes, she's doing a report on what's going on.**

**To Heather: *head is on my desk and my shoulders are shaking***

**Disclaimer: *still laughing about what Heather said***

April grinned to herself as her teacher helped her seal off the last edge of the blanket she was making in her home economics class. Hopefully Donnie would like it.

"Good job, April. You're definitely improving from the beginning of the year."

"Thank you, Ms. Kingston. I couldn't have done it without your help, though." Ms. Kingston smiled at the young student as she cut the thread and put the needle away.

"Everyone needs help every once and a while. You ended up doing more on your own for this project than the last, and I do believe this one was a bit more complicated."

It was true. Instead of just putting the stuff together and stuffing it like in the pillow she did a couple weeks ago, she had to measure out where to stitch the pieces of fabric together to create the quilt pattern the blanket now had.

Oh and the rice. Definitely fun to weigh rice.

"Now, I do believe you had said something about using the fabric markers?"

"Is it alright if I look up something online real quick for reference?"

Ms. Kingston nodded before walking off to get April the markers and the girl grabbed her folder before logging on to the computer in the back of the room.

§¤§

April's grip on her bag tightened as she walked into the lab. Maybe this wasn't a good idea...

_'C'mon! Donnie fights against aliens and ninjas, but you're scared of giving him a blanket?'_

With that thought in mind, the kunoichi-in-training took in a deep breath and walked up to the scientist.

"Hi, Don." At the sound of his crush's voice, Donatello jumped up, but quickly recovered.

"H-hi, uh, hey, Ap-pril." Okay, "recovered" was a relative term. "W-what are you doing here? Not that I don't want you here or anything, but-"

"Donnie, stop it. I have something for you." As she spoke these words, she pulled out the blanket from her bag and gently placed it on Don's shoulders.

Donnie looked down at the blanket on his shoulders and gave April a small smile. "Thank you..."

"You're welcome." Donnie felt the fabric between his fingers, and once he noticed some of the design, he took it off to examine better.

The blanket was easily seven to eight feet by four to five feet with four inch squares stitched in. The one side was just a plain purple about the same color as his mask, but the other side was white (with just enough black mixed in so it wouldn't hurt his eyes), and in each square was either a picture of a green turtle, the Hamato clan symbol in black, or a kanji in either maroon, blue, red, purple, orange, or a dark yellow.

_Master._

_Leader._

_Protector._

_Inventor._

_Innocent._

_And friend…_

**A/N: Hehe...I loved this. So has anyone ever heard of a weighted blanket? That's what April made for Donnie. If you don't know what it is, you can ask or you can look it up. I really don't care.**

**Love y'all!**


	24. Haze

**A/N: Why are there more internet ads than normal...Ugh, I'm exhausted, and I still need to draw some caricatures for tomorrow. Please just put me out of my misery.**

**Disclaimer: Nope.**

Donnie looked around with blank eyes. He felt like something was going on, but he couldn't quite figure out what. There was something weird in his chest-almost as if Raph was sitting in it again, but his brother was nowhere in sight.

There also seemed to be some sort of weight on his shoulders, which he found oddly comforting. Despite that, he crawled out of it and got up. Where was everyone?

Suddenly he found himself face to face with one of his brothers, though somehow the name failed him. The mask was orange, and he was covered in freckles against his light green skin...His name started with an M, didn't it?

His brother appeared to be talking, but Donnie understood it about as well as if he had his head buried in a pillow and his brother was underwater.

The turtle's face grew distressed and he turned his gaze towards something above Donnie and started talking again. Curiosity piqued, the lanky turtle turned his head to see what had caught the smaller turtle's interest, and standing above Donnie was another of his brothers. This one was wearing a tattered red mask and there was a large crack in his plastron near his shoulder.

…Didn't his name have something to do with his mask? Hm…

The Red said something to Orange, but Don was only aware of the weight returning to his shoulders.

Mikey and Raph. Those were their names. And here came…Leo. Along with a rat…Sliver? No, _Splinter_.

Splinter knelt down in front of him and gently reached forward, but the second he felt the fur of his father on his skin, he flinched backwards into Raph.

Leo couldn't help but flinch himself when he saw how Donnie fell backwards into Raph to get away from Master Splinter's touch. It was more than a little distressing to seem him so out of it…

"Is he gonna be alright?" The oldest turtle let out a sigh and turned to his youngest brother.

"Don't worry, Mikey." Leo was about to add that Donnie always recovered from these, but he caught himself when he remembered that the rest of the family didn't know about how bad his panic attacks could be. Sure, they sometimes would be around for the mild ones where he just had to recatch his breath, but Don usually went to his room or the lab before he would shut down like this.

"Hehe…sorry, guys…" Both of the brothers looked down to see that Donnie's eyes had regained focus and he was now smiling sheepishly at his brothers. "I didn't mean to scare you like that…"

Leo knelt down in front of his brother next to their father and pulled the younger turtle into a hug before saying, "Don, don't apologize for something you can't help."

**A/N: Can I just say that if you've never had a panic attack, you are lucky? They're painful and terrifying. Most of mine last until I can't go any longer without breathing, but once I had one that was so bad, I would just barely get a breath in before my ribs squeezed again. Did you know that's part of fight or flight response?**

**Oh, and my kindle charger broke today. Yay. On a lighter note: I have a page and a half of the last chapter done (it's gonna be a long one), and you get meet Andrea tomorrow!**


	25. Companion

**A/N: Heeeeeeeeeeere's Andrea! I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while...**

**Disclaimer: Nope, but I own Andrea!**

"Hey, Guys!" April greeted cheerfully as she walked into the Lair with a small, four-legged creature following on her heels. "Guess what I found!"

"I'm taking a wild guess here, but I'm gonna say some sort of cat..." Raph responded while taking his eyes off his magazine for a second to see the small creature.

"Sort of…" Before she could say anything else, the small creature ran past her and Raph and ran in the area of the lab. "Hey! Andrea, come back!"

"'Andrea'?" Leo questioned as he walked into the room and grabbed the creature when it got near him. "Where'd he come from?"

"Uh, I found her near my apartment. My aunt won't let me keep her, but I didn't think she would be able to find a proper home in the city, so I talked with Splinter after our last training session, and he said it was alright if she stayed here." April then was about to add something, but Andrea suddenly let out a loud hiss, causing Leo to drop her. "She's also a little finicky…"

"Well, that would've been helpful to know!" The leader of the group turned to go after the creature, but Andrea definitely was able to use her size as an advantage and squeezed into the lab door right as Leo noticed something. "Uh…April…is that cat a mutant?"

The ginger blushed slightly at the revelation, and even Raph was paying attention now. "I just found her like that. I-I didn't see the mutation, and for all we know, she could have been a mishap from a breeder."

"…cross-breeding cats and dogs?"

"See what I mean when I say humans are crazy?"

§¤§

Mikey watched in curiosity as Don poured the solution from one beaker to the next. It actually was kind of interesting to see his genius of a brother work, plus they currently had a deal going on where if Mikey could stay quiet for the duration of this experiment, Donnie would do something with him.

Of course, something else had to interrupt.

A small, furry something.

"Uh, Donnie…what is that?"

The creature on the lab table that had knocked down a beaker looked mostly cat like, but its ears flopped oddly, and its tail looked almost like a fox's with the way it fluffed out, though it still was able to stick straight up. If he had been closer, he would've been able to tell that despite the tabby cat pattern on its fur, it was only fluffy on the tail and back, whereas the rest of the fur was more course and almost waterproof. **[1]**

"Uh, looks like a cross between a _Felis catus domestica_ and a _Canis lupus familiaris_," Don answered as he picked Andrea up, earning a small purr. **[2]**

"Uh…"

"Combination of a cat and a dog. I wonder how it got into the Lair…" As if to answer his question, April and Leo came in, both sighing in relief at seeing the cat/dog wasn't causing too much damage.

"Oh, uh, I see you've met Andrea…" April sighed as Donnie pulled the hybrid closer to his plastron. "I'm glad she likes you at least…"

"Eh, Leo's never had luck with cats," Mikey quipped as he slid off the counter he was sitting on and went to get a better look at Andrea, earning the same reaction as Leo. Luckily, Donnie had good enough grip on her that his jump didn't cause him to drop her, but she still let out a bark of surprise.

"And neither have you, Mikey," Leo retorted with a grin as he watched his second youngest brother gently pet the…cog? Dat? They'd have to come up with that later.

"Well, she's gonna be staying here a while...Don't worry, Splinter approves!" The turtles let out a small giggle at her slight panic, and Leo shot her a grateful smile.

**[1] Growing up, I had a tabby cat who was a little sweetie (when she was being social), and all but one of the dogs I've lived with had this fur that was meant to be mostly waterproof (think black lab…especially since that's what I was thinking of!), so I tried to take elements from both to create Andrea here. She may show up in another story…**

**[2] Considering he knows the scientific name for a salamander, I don't think it's too farfetched he knows the scientific names of a cat and dog.**

**A/N: Hehe...Love that creature! I came up with her forever ago, and she just kind of fit...I do have other TMNT fics in progress, so she may sneak into one or more of those. ;)**

**Question: Would you rather the last chapter end on a fully complete note, or have it be slightly open-ended, but I'd be doing a one-shot series based on this as well? I'll put this as my profile poll, and it'll be open for the weekend. You'll have until then to vote.**

**Love y'all!**


	26. Scratch

**A/N: Is this what motivation feels like? I'm cleaning my room as I type this, and I'm gonna start working on...fve projects for school once I post this. I may even look for an online audiobook of_The_ _Hobbit _so I can start answering the questions. Then again, I can't listen to books being read to me very well. Yay for aspieness making school harder!**

**Yep, I'm reading _The Hobbit_ in English class. Kinda fitting with what happens tomorrow. ;) I may update during it due to being busy tomorrow.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, but I get to do Kevin and Peter for an art report!**

"Mruff?"

"Hang on, Andrea, give me a sec to finish this real quick."

The small creature hybrid let out a huff of disapproval and moved away from her master's leg. Her affectionate cuddling hadn't seemed to work...

Perhaps something from her dog half would work?

"Row! Row!" Andrea jumped up so her forepaws were as close to her master's knee as she could with her small size. "Row!"

"Alright, Andrea. I'm getting up." Andrea started purring in glee at his statement, knowing that she had won.

"Donnie-oh, I was just coming to get you," the oldest of the litter-mates announced when he came into the lab. "Lunch is ready."

"Thanks. Come on, Andrea."

Andrea darted out the door, eager for food, but she stopped when she heard the alpha talking again.

"She scratched you again!"

"It's not that bad..."

"Donatello..."

"It doesn't even hurt!"

"Which worries me! Remember training the other day?"

Andrea leaped over to the two of them and gently rubbed herself against her master's legs for comfort, but she was suddenly picked up and Master held her paw to show Alpha.

"Her claws are only partially retractable, so she sometimes scratches without meaning to. And what happened in training...my brain just processes things differently, and nerve endings are no exception."

"Alright...I just worry..."

"Don't worry; if it's something major, I notice."

**A/N: So this is partially from Andrea's POV, which is why she refers to Leo as "alpha" and the turtles as "liter-mates"...the first chapter I wrote from her POV (tomorrow's) is better IMO...**

**Stephanie: Could you have used any more acronyms?**

**Shut up, I'm doing numerous things right now. Hey, anyone know any good sites to get info on Kevin and Pete? I need it for an art project...**

**Love y'all!**


	27. Look

**A/N: Just when you think the Turtles can't get any dorkier...they make this episode. "I don't wanna be trapped in the 1980's!" Even my mom found that funny...**

**Anyway, here's Andrea!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, they wouldn't be LARP-ing with their masks on.**

Andrea watched her master from a perch up above him as he worked on something. She quite liked this one of the green creatures the human female had given her to. He was different from the other three, and she was often near him, if not in his arms.

He was such a sweet male.

The only thing, though, was he was often tense. Sure, in here, he was fine, but whenever he was near his litter-mates, he suddenly became very nervous. It was as if he thought they were going to hurt him!

Why would someone fear their litter-mates? Weren't they all supposed to be close?

Andrea chose not to worry about it too much and just keep an eye on her master.

Suddenly one of his litter-mates came in and the two of them spoke for a bit before the smaller creature left. Her master gave a sharp whistle, and Andrea leaped down into his arms. Lunchtime!

Once in the kitchen, her master placed Andrea on the ground and poured some food for her before sitting with his litter-mates and sire. One thing that always confused her was how the creature whom resembled the rodents she would sometimes chase had the scent of being the sire of her master and his litter-mates.

Then again, she had gone through strange changes thanks to a mysterious glowing liquid. Perhaps the same had happened to the strange family she was now a part of.

Before Andrea could start eating, there was yelling from one of her master's litter-mates. The temperamental one.

Uh oh. This couldn't end well. She knew that the temperamental one always had a way of hurting her master somehow despite interference from her, their litter-mates, and their sire.

Didn't mean none of them tried.

Andrea slowly walked under the table in such a way her feline ancestors would be proud, and studied the legs under the table. This one had to be it...

"Gah! Donnie, your stupid cat bit me again!"

"We're working on it. I just don't think she likes you, not that I blame her..."

"Very funny..." Despite his skepticism, the hothead chose to leave her master alone for the rest of the meal.

Mission accomplished.

**A/N: Huh...this is gonna end up being in their minds, isn't it? Why are owls always-GET RID OF THE TURKEY HEAD! Aw, and Mikey's scared of squirrels.**

**Love y'all!**


	28. Order

**A/N: ...I hate this one. And my life. I actually tried to smack someone on the bus because he pissed me off in math...after I had already had a meltdown thanks to a teacher reminding me of my dad. I'm so glad he's not home tonight, or I could've had another meltdown...I hate being aspie...**

**Aaaaaand last chapter still is turning out weird. Ugh.**

**Disclaimer: Can I just..."Mazes and Mutants" was pretty good though...**

Leo wasn't very surprised when he walked into Don's room and saw his little brother pulling his books off his small bookcase. This typically happened once every couple weeks, sometimes more if he had pulled a lot down lately.

"Don? Is everything alright in here?" The younger acted like he couldn't hear Leo for a moment, but then Andrea started barking from her place in Leo's arms. _'Least she's warmed up to me a bit...'_

"Hi, Leo. Glad you found Andrea...where was she this time?"

"Top of the fridge." The older gently put the creature down then walked over to his brother as she ran towards the bed. "What are you up to in here?

"My bookshelf was becoming a mess again. I just needed to fix it."

Leo gave a small nod as if that made sense and looked around. Sometimes Donnie really amazed him...

Compared to Mikey's room, it was clean, sure, but everything was still in disarray, especially the area near his desk. It actually looked as if his floor was made of paper covered in notes and blueprints in the corner he would work in sometimes...

Yet the bookshelf always had to be orderly.

"I'll go through the papers later."

At that comment, Leo glanced back over at his little brother, who was putting a handful of books into one of the stacks on the floor.

...his brother was an enigma, and he didn't even know where to start to solve it.

**A/N: Ever hear of "Clumsy Ninja"? The little guy reminds me of Timothy...So now I headcanon him knowing a girl named Kira. ^^'**

**Oh, and Raph-Loves, please don't hate me on Wednesday...^^'**

**Love y'all!**


	29. Strange

**A/N: *hanging from a shelf* Uh, Stephanie, can you help me here?**

**Stephanie: *looks up at me* Still didn't find them?**

**Just get me down.**

**Stephanie: You got up there. You can get down.**

**I'm scared of heights!**

**Stephanie: *looks at you guys* Think she's competent enough to own a whole franchise?**

Donnie smiled to himself as he completed a new project. There was always a sense of satisfaction when he completed something. Whenever he completed something, it felt like it became a part of him.

…if that was the case, then the toaster was well on its way to becoming his twin.

Oh well. It wasn't anyone's fault it broke every time Leo touched it.

Don shook the thought out of his mind before getting up to go find his brothers. He couldn't wait to show this to them!

…Now where were they? They weren't in the living room…maybe the bedrooms? He hadn't heard any yelling in a while, so it would make sense for Raph to not be in the same room as Leo or Mikey. That or Splinter was in the same room as them and Raph didn't want to get in trouble for fighting with his brothers. Again.

Hm…maybe they were in the dojo then? Ugh…why were his brothers so unpredictable? Just when he thought he understood how they worked, they would do something like this where he had no clue where they were or what they were doing.

Well, the dojo was as good a place to start as any.

Donnie took a deep breath before walking over to their practice room. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about what they were doing. He couldn't figure out why it was there, but it was.

He attempted to shake it out, but as he reached out to open the door (that's strange, wasn't it normally open?), the voice of his oldest brother stopped him.

"Guys, you're overreacting. I don't see why this is a problem."

'_Well that answers the question of where they are…what could they be talking about though? Hm…'_ Don thought to himself in a whir of thoughts. With that in mind, the genius of the family got as close as he could to the door without anyone knowing he was there (harder than it seemed in a family of ninjas) and attempted to listen in to the conversation so that he could find out what was going on.

"You're kidding, right?" Pause. "He's gotta be kidding."

So that meant Raph was in there as well, and possibly Mikey or Splinter judging by Raph's comment.

"Stop it, Raph. Mikey doesn't see the problem."

"Actually, Leo…"

Yep, it was Mikey in there with them.

"See?!"

"…I don't really agree with either of you."

"Huh?"

"What?"

Donnie rolled his eyes to himself. Someday their older brothers would understand that Mikey wasn't as stupid as they thought and wasn't just a blind follower when it came to serious things.

"I mean, I see where Leo's coming from, but it has caused some difficulties…But it's not like-"

"He's messed up, Mikey! Why can't you two see that?!"

Oh boy…were they talking about him?

"That's not true, Raph! He's just a little different. Besides, it's not like he can help it. It's just who he is."

"Of course, that's just like you to act as if you know more than you think about us."

"I never do that. Donnie just happened to tell me about what's going on and didn't want me to tell you guys."

Yep. They were talking about him.

Without wanting to hear another word, Don turned and started walking off. Of course, that had to be the moment Mikey chose to walk out of the room so that he wouldn't get caught up in another fight between Raph and Leo.

"Donnie? Are you alright?" The brown-eyed turtle turned to look at his younger brother for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough for Mikey to see the pain in those chocolate orbs.

'_He didn't hear what we were talking about, did he?'_ the youngest of the group thought to himself, but he knew the answer to that question already.

"I'm gonna go step out for a bit. I'll be back in time for patrol."

Mikey tried to stop his brother, but Leo had noticed what was going on outside the dojo and grabbed the baby of the family to stop him.

"Leo?"

"Leave him, Mikey. I'll talk to him later, and maybe then he'd be willing to let you guys know what's going on." Mikey gave a small nod and pulled his shoulder out of Leo's grip so that he could go to sit down on the couch and watch TV.

Leo sighed to himself and leaned against the wall as he closed his eyes in thought. He'd been keeping this a secret from the others for a while now, and perhaps that may not work anymore.

**A/N: *holding an ice pack* Hey, guys, sorry about that. I kinda accidentally lost most (translation: all) of my stories, so I was looking...And yeah...So, um, odds are I may post at like, 11 at night tomorrow...^^'**

**(PS, check out the new poll)**


	30. Reveal

Leo silently landed on the rooftop and half-turned to see his brothers following. Mikey landed on his hands and flipped on to his feet, Raph would've barreled them over if they hadn't've moved, and Donnie...

They weren't a hundred percent sure where he was still. Leo had talked with Splinter (even explaining to the best of his ability what was going on with Donnie), and their father had suggested giving the aspie space if he needed it.

"So why did Donnie get out of patrol?"

Leo let out a groan at Raph's question. Yes, they deserved to know about Donnie's Aspergers, but the younger turtle didn't want them to know. Which one could he choose?

"Just...problems." Yeah, that was smart and insightful sounding.

"Does it have to do with what we were saying?"

Leo let out a small sigh. Mikey May not have been the brightest turtle out there, but he was rather insightful when it came to emotions.

"Look, there's something different with Don, but he'll share it when he's ready. I _know _you guys want to know, but_ he_ doesn't want you guys knowing."

The three stood there for a moment in silence, each one trying to figure out what to say next, when a fourth voice came in.

"Aspergers Syndrome."

The three patrolling turtles turned to the voice and were mildly surprised to find their missing fourth.

"Leo's right...You guys should know...It's just...Well, I didn't know how you would react..." Donnie trailed, unsure how to explain his thoughts. Luckily, Mikey helped out a bit.

"What is Aspergers Syndrome?"

Donnie felt the words tumble through his mind for a moment before answering, "It's a cognitive disorder, and it affects the way I think. It's part of why I had issues talking when we were younger, and even now I don't always understand what you're saying if you don't speak literally because that's how I'll interpret most of the things you say..."

Donnie nervously played with his hands and looked at his feet, worried about his brothers' reactions.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms envelope him in a hug. Donnie blinked in surprise for a moment, and that surprise grew when he saw that it was Raph.

"Next time you keep a secret like that, I'll beat the green off you."

The younger turtle smiled and wrapped his arms around Raph as well while the other two joined in as well.

He really had nothing to worry about.

**A/N: *sighs* Alright, so I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome a few years ago, and I'll admit, I had a few problems initially. I mean, it's like there's a wall between me and the rest of the world. When I was diagnosed, it was kind of like learning I'm not just completely f-d up...**

**Anyway, it was a big deal, and when I started watching TMNT, I saw _so much _of myself in Don (especially in the current show), that I just kind of started headcanoning that he was an aspie..._  
_**

**So I'll be continuing this as a one-shot series that has yet to be titled, and I have a new TMNT fic called "Locked Hearts" ready to post...**

**After finals. I have too much on my plate at the moment to continue writing at the moment... :(**


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